Detroit's Legendary Jazz Musician Donald Byrd Dies at Age 80

February 8th, 2013, 6:03 AM

Trumpeter, composer and educator Donald Byrd, is dead at age 80

Free Press music writer Mark Stryker writes that Byrd was "one of the most important, widely recorded and versatile jazz musicians to come roaring out of Detroit during the city’s golden age of bebop in the 1950s."

Stryker also writes:

Byrd’s career traced a remarkable arc, from jazz stalwart in the 1950s and ’60s to best-selling R&B star in the ’70s to the halls of academia as part of the pioneering first wave of African-Americans to teach black music in universities. He earned numerous advanced degrees, mentored several generations of young musicians and became an outspoken authority on African-American history and music.